"Results of the pilot will help us improve the customer experience and help U.S. Bank serve a broader population through this mobile banking channel," says Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for U.S. Bank Payment Services. "Customers are becoming accustomed to using their voice to interact with their smartphones, and we are exploring the application of that technology to banking and payments."

U.S. Bank does say its seeing more demand for customer-managed banking options, and that the Nina Mobile virtual assistant is "at the forefront" of self-service banking. Where it goes from here is anyone's guess, but the bank is already publicly calling its voice banking technology a big part of its "next generation of compelling, interactive customer service experiences today."